Posted on

Meetings – Month of July, 2020

A number of the officers of YCARS met over Field Day and discussed resuming in-person meetings in July. As previously communicated, we hoped to resume meetings at the clubhouse this month. However, the COVID-19 numbers have spiked and are now at an all-time high.

We cannot, in good conscious, return to in-person meetings in July. Our club activities will be online-only. We will reassess the situation by the end of the month, hoping to return to in-person meetings in August, but at this time, we must continue limiting the number of members who can gather indoors together and follow social distancing guidelines.

Thanks for your understanding!

Posted on

YCARS Annual Picnic – 2020

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to postpone our annual club picnic. We historically host the picnic during Field Day, but due to the limits currently in place for social gatherings, we have decided to hold the picnic in September.

This year’s picnic will combine food with ham radio fun. We will have a fox hunt, a Parks on the Air activation, and of course, food!

Please join YCARS on Saturday, September 12, at Shelter 2 at Kings Mountain State Park.

The fox hunt will kick off at 11am. Food will start being consumed around noon. After filling up our stomachs, we will get on the air and make some POTA contacts!

Posted on

Field Day – 2020

YCARS will be participating in Field Day this year, but we need to take some precautions to ensure we do not endanger anyone with the COVID-19 pandemic still affecting our area.

This year, you will have the ability to operate Field Day from home and have your contacts benefit the club. You will still get individual credit for your contacts. You will operate as a solo operator with the appriopriate designator (such as 1H). You will use your own personal callsign from home. But, when you submit your log, you will have the ability to associate your contacts towards a club. The club identifier you must specify is “York County SC Amateur Radio Society”. Please use that EXACT designator. There are at least two other YCARS clubs in the county, so we will be identified with SC in the name for the purposes of log submittal.

Please visit http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Field-Day/2020/2020%20Field%20Day%20Packet%20Rev%20a.pdf if you are unsure of how to operate Field Day, log, and submit your log after the event.

We will be operating from Westminster Park in Rock Hill again this year as a club. However, it is imperative that we follow state guidelines during the pandemic. We will be operating 2A. We will use W3SPC’s travel trailer as one operating station and Fort Mill EMS’ trailer for a second station. Radios and antennas will be provided. Please do not bring your own equipment if you operate from the park.

There will be a maximum of two people at an operating station at a time. If more than one person is in a trailer, we ask that masks be worn. All equipment that is physically touched will be disinfected between operators.

If you come to the park to socialize, please bring your own chair and maintain social distancing between club members.

We have online signups for the stations. Please signup and register for the timeslot(s) you want to operate and the appropriate station. One station will be on SSB and the other will be used for CW and digital contacts.

Please visit the following link to signup for operation at Westminster Park.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050E4FA9A729A2FC1-ycars

Yes, Field Day will be quite a bit different this year due to the ongoing pandemic. We certainly appreciate everyone cooperation during this time.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Steve, W3SPC, at W3SPC@ycars.org.

Thanks!

Posted on

June VE Session!

VE Testing this Saturday June 20th 2020.

Folks we are having a testing session this Saturday June 20, 2020. It will be limited in attendance to keep proper social distancing. ALL in attendance must wear a mask, during the session. NO EXPECTIONS will be made for not having a face mask, there will be a limited number of masks available if you forgot yours.

There will be 5 VE’s present – we do not need any others to be there at this time.

VE’s will be Bill Stinson KM4WJT, John Gendron, NJ4Z, David McLearn KX4UV, Billy Hallman, KG4GSE, Time McKee WN9Z

We will limit the test takers to 10, maximum. If you would like to test please be sure to sign up by sending an e-mail to YCARS@YCARS.org.

We will have hand sanitizer at the clubhouse. Testing begins at 9:30 sharp, please be at the clubhouse no later than 9:15am. Cost is $15.00, cash or check. Please bring your own pencils and calculators. Movement will be restricted to maintain social distancing. Please have a copy of you drivers license and your FRN number, and if testing for upgrade a copy of your current FCC amateur Radio License.

Posted on

June Business Meeting

Just a reminder that we will have our monthly business meeting this coming Thursday, June 11, at 7:30 PM EDT.  This meeting will again be ONLINE ONLY.  Good news though!  We expect to resume meetings in person beginning in July.  We will, however, continue to host the meeting on Microsoft Teams as well to allow members who cannot attend in person the ability to be virtually present.  This online extension of business meetings is planned to continue indefinitely.

During the business meeting we will be discussing the club’s plans for Field Day, including covering some of the rules changes this year which will hopefully allow more members than ever participate in the event.

Additionally, we will cover our normal business meeting topics as well as our plans to resume VE testing in the future.

Hope to talk to everyone on Thursday!

Posted on

Help the fight against COVID-19!

As discussed during our April Business Meeting, YCARS members (and anyone else reading this) can help in the fight against COVID-19 and other diseases using their computers at home. 

Join the fight by navigating tohttp://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/ and download the free program.  A few settings allow you to determine when the application runs and how much computing power it uses.

Don’t forget to join the York County Amateur Radio Society (YCARS) team and monitor your stats!  Currently, our team is in the top 5%.

If you have any questions, please reach out to me.

– Darcy Pach, K4DQP

Posted on

Nets Moving Back to K4YTZ

Beginning Monday, April 6, we will be transitioning back to the K4YTZ repeater for the YCARS nets.  We’ve spoken with SCHEART and the state EOC and they do not believe there is a pressing need to keep the SCHEART repeaters clear of non-essential traffic at this time.  It is not expected that an emergency net will be needed over the next several weeks.  Returning to K4YTZ will allow us greater coverage.

We will be continuing the 11am daily nets for the foreseeable future.  We encourage all members to check-in, say hello, let us know you’re doing OK, and let us know if there is anything that you need.